Free Republic

The East-West line is the Kingdom's bypass of the Strait of Hormuz, carrying crude from the eastern fields to Red Sea export capacity, and headlines confirming it is flowing normally tend to appear only when some disruption or threat to Gulf transit is already in the price. In past episodes of Gulf supply anxiety, the market's sensitivity has split between actual interruption to flows, which is rare, and the perceived risk premium around chokepoints, which is common and has historically faded once continuity of throughput is confirmed. Confirmation of normal operations typically works to unwind whatever premium the disruption story...

A Moscow drone slammed into Kyiv’s key Northern Bridge on Sunday, leading to a fiery explosion during a visit from Germany’s top official — as Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly preparing a mass military mobilization. Dramatic footage from the Ukrainian capital showed a Russian drone crashing into the busy span during morning traffic, with a large fireball erupting from the explosion. Cars could be seen rushing through the blast area to get to the other side as fire and black smoke overtook one side of the bridge. Miraculously, only two people were injured in the incident, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy...

A hypothermic hiker called for a rescue on the Pacific Crest Trail near Washington’s Goat Rocks over the weekend after a winter storm brought 60 mph wind gusts and snow to the area, collapsing his tent.Ongoing weather challenges kept helicopters grounded. Instead of relying on air support, a five-person Tacoma Mountain Rescue team hiked 8 miles overnight to reach the hiker. By 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, they successfully located the hiker, who was in his 20s, and began efforts to warm and stabilize him. Two rescuers stayed overnight with the hiker in a two-person tent. The following morning, the rescuers...

A viral video captured an Arizona college cheerleader being violently slammed to the ground and pummeled on top of a bicycle by cops after she allegedly interfered with an arrest. Arizona State University senior Eryn Bonner was hit with two misdemeanor charges last week in Tempe after a harrowing video captured cops allegedly leaving her covered in bruises during an arrest in July, according to the Tempe Police Department and ABC15. Bonner, a member of the ASU Stunt team, was seen in the early morning of July 19, reapproaching officers who were arresting another individual after being told to get...

For many US households, it may not feel like the economy is doing well amid the higher cost of living brought on by the US war on Iran. But believe it or not, the US economy is nearing an impressive achievement on the unemployment front. The US unemployment rate is nearing a record number of consecutive months below 5%, Truist chief strategist Keith Lerner pointed out (see the chart below). The longtime record dates back to the mid-1960s. It's a worthwhile perspective to keep in mind as markets attempt to rationalize a surprisingly weak September jobs report. Employers added just...

Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is joining Fox News as an on-air contributor, the network announced on Monday. Leavitt, 29, stepped down in August after serving as President Trump’s chief spokeswoman and is set to begin at the cable network on Nov. 1. She is expected to appear across both Fox’s news and opinion programming, according to a press release obtained by The Post. The Times reported that Leavitt left Washington after the birth of her second child and now lives with her family in New Hampshire. She had said she wanted to spend more time with her...

Israel’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the right of Arab parties to run in the Oct. 27 election could make it more difficult for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a new coalition after the election. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Joint Arab List and Ra’am, the two Arab-led political lists competing in Israel’s elections, could run. The ruling overturned a decision by the Central Elections Committee, a largely political body in which parties in Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition hold a majority of the seats, which had voted last month to bar the lists from...

In a huge scandal that’s destined to be ignored by the mainstream press, allegations have emerged that former special prosecutor Jack Smith’s team wiretapped and monitored not only President Donald Trump’s then-campaign adviser Susie Wiles in 2023, but also his lawyers as well.Citing newly declassified FBI records, Just The News reported on Monday that Smith’s team used a pen register/trap-and-trace (PR/TT) device on Wiles’ phone that allowed them to see who she called, who called her, when the calls happened, how long the calls lasted, and their metadata.

Cancer remains an important comorbidity among people living with HIV worldwide, but risk varies according to demographic and behavioral factors, according to an analysis from the REPRIEVE trial published in the journal AIDS. People with HIV had higher rates of both infection-related malignancies and those not associated with infections, but AIDS-defining cancers were uncommon.

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to rightfully call out Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) for standing in the way of the popular Sunshine Protection Act, a bill that would finally make daylight saving time permanent.As The Gateway Pundit’s Jordan Conradson previously reported, President Trump held nothing back. He bravely posted Cotton’s cell phone number online so the American people could let the Senator know exactly how they felt about him blocking this common-sense legislation.But instead of holding his Washington colleague accountable, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) decided to run straight to the liberal mainstream media to take...

Maryland-based activist... Tiffany Carlock, who goes by Candidly Tiff online, shared a video of Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello telling Rolling Stone that he 'certainly did not' vote for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.'I certainly did not... I couldn't do it. V for vendetta. That one inch, that one inch of who you are belongs to you, and they can't have it,' Morello, a left-wing political activist, stated.Carlock then posted the clip to her X account and wrote: 'I don't know who this white man is, but I'm not surprised he didn't vote for Kamala in the...

This is Measure ULA, sold to voters in 2022 as a way to stick it to the millionaires and billionaires.But it ended up sticking it to the people as a whole instead!Here's the NYP:LA's 'mansion tax,"'sold to Angelenos as a way to tax the rich and boost housing, has instead blocked the building of 9,100 homes, wiped out 16,650 full-time construction jobs, and cost $452 million in revenue.A damning new report says the tax, officially known as United to House LA, or ULA, has had a negative impact on the city's high-end and multifamily real estate markets and collected less...

BREAKING 🚨 CNN stuns the world saying: "Trump is the most influential President of this century and probably dating back good portion of last century” DEMOCRATS HAVE OFFICIALLY LOST CNN HOLY SH*T 🔥

White House officials have denied a report that Chief of Staff Susie Wiles pressed Attorney General Todd Blanche to hold off on abortion-related Justice Department actions until after the 2026 midterm elections. Pro-life leaders said any such delay would leave unborn children on a political calendar while abortion pills continue to end their lives every day. Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com The Washington Sun reported Oct. 2 that senior White House officials, led by Wiles, told Blanche in a series of discussions to move slowly on abortion-related actions before November. A senior administration official,...

This is perfect for a Sign to wave in the Streets. “Iranian Army endorsed Democrats to give them power” In a letter posted by our good friends at TIME Magazine and the American and foreign media, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has penned an open letter to Americans, calling on U.S. civilians to “wrest control back from corrupt politicians.” The Iranians, who tried to produce nuclear bombs to destroy America, are asking Americans to vote for Democrats so they can finish the job. Something like Hitler advising America to concentrate on beating Japan and leave the European Theater comes...

Healthcare is facing a wave of high-stakes litigation that could redefine drug pricing, insurance oversight, health technology competition, AI deployment, labor policy and public health regulation. The cases span nearly every corner of the industry, with courts increasingly serving as the venue where major policy disputes are decided. Together, these legal fights will influence how healthcare is paid for, regulated and delivered in the years ahead. From 340B drug pricing and Medicare Advantage star ratings to competition, antitrust claims against Epic Systems and patient privacy disputes, courts are increasingly becoming the battleground for some of healthcare's biggest policy and business...

"Death rates among young Americans have surged dramatically, with the mortality rate for adults aged 25 to 44 jumping 71.2% between 2010 and 2021, the largest increase of any age group. This rise is driven by a combination of external causes, such as drug overdose, and early-onset diseases."

On Monday's CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish pulled two pro-Democrat tricks. First, she tried to minimize the history of a pollster showing Trump losing Iowa to Kamala, but then going on to win by double digits. Second, she tried to passively lump in possible Democratic Party losses in with possible Republican ones. Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

The sale of Lukoil's international assets, worth around $20 billion, has moved from sanctions policy into the talks between Washington and Moscow, with a Boehly-led consortium backed by Gulf investors and a US state agency challenging Carlyle's earlier agreement. Lukoil announced an agreement to sell its international assets to the American group Carlyle on January 29, 2026, following US sanctions issued in 2025. American investor Todd Boehly has assembled a new consortium, including Gulf investors and the US International Development Finance Corporation, to compete for the acquisition. The sale involves energy assets worth approximately $20 to $22 billion, including oil...

The Red-Green alliance of leftists and Muslims is staging a show of force, rioting in the streets of France. Pay attention, we’re next. The riots in France last week stand as a warning to the United States and all western countries: mass immigration will split your country in two, and the two sides will eventually go to war. The unrest, which quickly spread from the suburbs of Paris to encompass much of the country, were a stark contrast to the scenes just a few days earlier when Pope Leo XIV drew massive crowds at every stop on his four-day...